lotusbiosm

but, I'm going to write about it.
On Bullshit (Penn & Teller's show on Showtime), they're talking about creationism.
This guy claims that accepting the theory of the Big Bang means that you say that God doesn't exist, which means you're not accountable to anyone. Which is, as the title tells us, bullshit. The Big Bang does not preclude the existence of God. What it does is offer an explination of how the universe started, with or without an entity to start it. Nor does the absence of God mean that I am only accountable to myself. I'm accountable to my fellow man. To humanity. To my children, and their children. To my parents and their parents.
If I commit murder, I am accountable to the justice system, and can be imprisoned or executed (that's a whole other rant). If I steal, there are consequences for that. On top of that, I have my own conscience to deal with. I should (and try to) do the right thing because it's right, not because I am afraid of conquences, whether in this life or the next. Doing the right thing because you are afraid of punishment is nowhere near as ethically/morally mature as doing the right thing simply because it's right. I don't kill because killing is wrong. I don't steal because stealing is wrong. I try to be nice to people because I believe it's good to be nice to people. I try to be environmentally conscious in my decisions because I care about the way my actions affect other people, including those not yet born.
Do I believe that these actions make God happy too? Sure. I think God wants us to be good stewards of the earth and to love each other and be good to each other. But I don't think that the existence or non-existence of any deity or higher power, heaven or hell, reincarnation, karma, whatever, should change whether or not we do what's right. Do you really think that when you get to the pearly gates that the God who knows what's in your heart will be happy with your actions knowing they were based not out of love for humanity, or even for Him, but rather out of fear of His wrath? If you need a theological reason, and you believe in God, then do good things out of worship- in gratitude for the things you have that you didn't earn, for the grace that gives you the things that others lack, to show your love of God by demonstrating love to His children. Let your actions be a witness to the presence of your deity in your life. Don't live your life in fear of fiery torment or being reincarnated as a bug. Live your life being accountable to yourself, and let the supernatural take care of itself.
What's right is right, regardless of whether or not the universe started in a Garden in Mesopotamia, on the back of a turtle, or in a Big Bang.

I started this last night but got interrupted by a call from you-know-who